In 1965, Hindi cinema's evergreen star Dev Anand wowed cinegoers with his portrayal of Raju in the much-acclaimed Guide. The film, an adaptation of RK Narayan's book The Guide, is counted among the best Indian films and was appreciated across the world. But did you know that Guide was made in English as well? Nobel laureate Pearl S Buck was mighty impressed with Narayan's book and wanted to collaborate with Dev sahab for a film version of it. Guide was simultaneously made in Hindi as well as English. And the English version was not a dubbed one. “The English Guide was shot separately. It had the actors conversing in English and the dialogues weren't dubbed from Hindi,“ informs Prakash Magdum, director of National Film Archives of India (NFAI).

The NFAI has sent out an appeal to film collectors who might have the English version and asked for it to be donated to the archives. This development came on Dev sahaab's 93rd birth anniversary on Monday. Guide, in English, was scripted by Buck and directed by Tad Danielewski. Magdum added, “We have the original print of the Hindi version but if we get the English version, even a digital copy, it would be one of the biggest achievements for us. Someone has posted a small clip from the film on our social media post and that gives us hope of acquiring the entire film.“